A 16-year-old Dunkin’ Donuts employee on TikTok said he is “this close to quitting” after posting a viral video of a customer berating him.
In the video, a woman, who has been dubbed a “Karen” by redditors, is yelling at the employee via the drive-thru. She tells the employee he shouldn’t speak until she is finished, calling it “common courtesy.” “OK. That’s my bad,” the employee responds.
She then misspeaks and tells him that she tried to order a “bean vanilla coolatta.” “And you told me that you didn’t service them here,” she says. But, the customer adds, she orders them all the time, offering to show the employee her old receipts as proof.
“Now all of a sudden the machine is down,” she says, implying that the employee previously told her it wasn’t working.
“So, I’m going to need the corporate number. I don’t want to have to talk to you anymore,” she says. She then demands the number, the employee’s name, and his badge number.
When he tries to tell her he doesn’t have a badge number, she cuts him off and says, “Just give me the corporate number.”
The employee slams the drive-thru window shut and utters “bitch.” He goes to the back of the store and asks his co-workers if they have the corporate number and then returns to tell her they don’t keep the corporate number on file in stores.
“OK. Trust me, I will find out,” she says.
He send her off by saying, “That’s fine. Take care, Pamela.”
He then looks into the camera and says, “broke bitch.”
The employee revealed on his TikTok account, @ivan_castillo.01, that he is “this close to quitting” and uploaded an explainer video.
The TikToker says another employee was first taking the customer’s order. (He later revealed on TikTok that he was the supervisor that day and is only 16 years old.)
He says he chimed in when he thought he overheard the customer attempting to order a piña colada. When he told her Dunkin’ Donuts doesn’t offer piña coladas, she allegedly yelled that she asked for a Vanilla Bean Coolatta, not a piña colada. He says he told her there was no reason to yell because it went “directly into our headsets in our ears, and it was loud.”
“I guess that set her off. She pulled around to the window. That’s when she started yelling at me. That’s when we told her ‘Hey, our machine’s broken,’” he recalls.
“It was kind of a huge inconvenience and just a misunderstanding,” he continues. “I was just frustrated at the end, and you can tell by me slamming the window and calling her a ‘broke bitch.’ All of my actions were done out of frustration. I never meant any disrespect to her. … She got the better of my patience.”
Viewers of both videos flocked to the comments sections to denounce the customer’s behavior and laud the teen. “Normalize returning the energy that customers give you,” one said.
“We need to normalize workers standing up for (themselves). It’s not ok to treat someone like that and not expect the same attitude back,” another said.
Others couldn’t believe the customer reacted in that manner over a drink. “All that over a vanilla bean coolatta? Girl,” one questioned.
“Oh my- why’s she so mad over a drink,” another said.
As of right now, those are the only two videos that live on @ivan_castillo.01’s account.
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